When the Bough Breaks
by Tonk's Twin
Summary: After Will leaves her, Terri begins plotting how to win him back.
1. Chapter 1: Shattered

**Shattered**

_Bang!_

Terri fell in a crying heap to the floor.

She had known from the beginning this wasn't going to work. Kendra had tried to convince her that it could work if she just kept Will distracted, and then when Quinn got pregnant it was the answer to her prayers. For those few months, she actually thought she could pull it off, she thought she would be able to fool him.

Now Will had stormed out and there was no chance he would ever walk through that door again. But Will might come back, right? He loved her, he always had. Always wanting to give her everything she wanted even if it meant working a second job as a janitor. He couldn't refuse her_--he loved her_! He just needed some time to calm down.

She needed another plan, a plan to get him back. _No!_ No more scheming. That's what got her into this mess in the first place, her and her hysterical pregnancy.

Who was she kidding? He wouldn't come back to her. Who would? What person in their right mind would come back to their lying, pregnancy faking wife? She had lost him, lost everything, and soon the whole town would be buzzing with this latest piece of gossip.

_'Who gives a shit?'_ she thought to herself._ 'He's gone it doesn't matter anymore.'_

She was completely alone.

And with that sobering thought, Terri Schuester grabbed the closest bottle she could find and walked to her bedroom, not caring if she ever left it again.


	2. Chapter 2: Her Own Personal Saviour

**Her Own Personal Saviour**

_Ring ring!_

_Ring ring!_

Terri awoke to the blasted screeching sound the telephone.

She had been locked in her room for days and had drunk three-quarters of the tequila bottle she had brought along with her that night. Hung over, depressed, and unaware of the fact that McKinley High's Glee Club rehearsal had just ended, she answered the phone convinced that it was Kendra, again.

"What?" Terri said half-annoyed into the end she thought was the receiver.

"Mrs. Schuester?" The quiet, crying voice sounded so familiar to her. "I d-don't know wh-what to d-do. He found out... about the baby." Terri finally placed the voice: Quinn. "I --"

More sobbing broke off whatever whining little anxiety the girl was prattling to her about, and just when Terri was about to hang up on the little brat, she got an idea. "Quinn, everything will be ok. Come to the apartment. We'll figure this out."

***

Fifteen minutes later there was a knock at the front door, and Terri opened it to find Quinn Fabray, four months pregnant and still sobbing. The young girl looked as awful as Terri felt. Without hesitating, Terri hugged her and invited Quinn to sit down.

When Terri had first met Quinn, it was like she had glimpsed into the past. Quinn was like her in so many ways: head cheerleader, prom queen, the girl everyone wanted to be. Yet there was also something that Quinn still had that Terri had lost ages ago--compassion.

Quinn had grown up so quickly after finding out that she was pregnant. Terri had watched it happen; one day she was whining about how she wouldn't fit into her Cheerios uniform any more, and the next she was ensuring that her baby had the best father possible. She had to give Quinn credit, she was a better person then Terri had ever been. Then again, that wasn't saying much.

"Quinn, what happened?"

"I'm sorry I bothered you, but I didn't have anyone else to go to and since you and Mr. Schuester are--I mean were-- going to adopt the baby--"

"He told you? All of you?" Will was the most private person on the face of the Earth when it came to their marriage; how could he have told those damn Glee kids?

"No, Mr. Schuester didn't tell us anything... I just assumed when he slept in his office that--"

"He slept in his office?" Terri didn't know how to feel about that, but she could figure that out later. "Quinn, did he say something to you about us and the baby? Is that why you're so upset? He has no reason to be upset with you." Terri was beginning to worry a little all this stress couldn't be good for the baby.

"Mr. Schuester? No, he's not mad at me. It's Fin, he--"

"Oh sweetie," Terri interrupted again, "I'm sure everything will be fine. I mean, what could you have done? You're carrying his baby. He'll forgive you anything."

"He knows the baby isn't his. Rachel told him today before rehearsal. I don't know what to do now. I was living at his house and now I can stay there, but I can't go home. I just didn't know where else to go."

With that Quinn, sobbing, hugged Terri like she was her long-lost mother, and Terri couldn't help but think of how truly alike she and Quinn were.

"Quinn, shh it's ok. It will all be ok." Again that little devious light bulb flickered in Terri's head, and while the motivation for her quickly conceived plan was compassion she couldn't help but smile at the thought of the personal benefits that came with it. "You'll stay here, for however long you need to. When the baby is born, we'll bring it back here. You can both stay."

"What?" Terri beamed as the look of shock on Quinn's face was replaced with pure happiness, as if Terri were her personal saviour and not the other way around. "Are you sure, Mrs. Schuester? What about Mr. Schuester? What if he decides to come back and help you raise the baby?"

That was exactly what Terri was counting on.


End file.
